 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
กก
MVI, which stands for Motion Video Instruction, is specially designed to improve multimedia performance of the Alpha microprocessor above and beyond Intel's MMX technology. MVI consists of three instruction set groups. The first group is the pixel error instruction set, which supports DVD storage and playback and the H.320/H.323
standard for video conferening. The second group supports instructions of byte and word compression/ decompression and SIMD(Single Instruction Multiple Data) which means a single instruction executes several
repeated loops paralley. The last group includes byte and word clamping instructions..The main advancement of MVI technology compared to MMX lies in the first group, pixel error instruction set. These instructions accelerate multimedia performance to realize real-time encoding of MPEG2 audio and video data by enhancing 'Motion Estimation' computations.
MVI technology will be integrated into the 21264 microprocessor which will be available 2Q ' 98. All future Alpha processors will include the MVI instructions as well.
To upgrade to an Alpha system, basically an Alpha CPU and its motherboard are necessary. But most other hardware components such as a keyboard, a mouse, all kinds of diskette drivers and SCSIs, IDE hard disks, ATAPI CD-ROM drivers, monitors with standard video controller and Ethernet need not have to be changed.
If you'd like to find out whether your peripherals have native Alpha BIOS, please consult th hardware compatibility list of the Alpha resource book which can be found on th Alpha home page (www.samsungsemi.com/Products/alpha/alpha-page1.html).
FX!32 is a software technology that translates x86 binary programs to run on Alpha architecture processors at speeds comparable to or greater than x86 platforms.
It uses an emulator initially to run 32-bit x86 application code and to build application profiles, then employs binary translation to create Alpha executable code.The Alpha code is then stored and you can select a used one from the translated program list of FX!32 Manager for optimization. The performance of optimized code gives you the more efficiency than the original Translation does.
FX!32 doesn't support certain programs, such as device drivers, screensavers or programming tools the alpha- native versions are essential.
The latest FX!32 can be downloaded on the web (www.digital.com/semiconductor/amt/fx32/index.html/) and Microsoft announced they will integrate FX!32 into Windows NT 5.0.
Does x86 software on Alpha system run as fast as native software does?
Yes. Alpha has seamless compatibility with Windows NT. So x86 Win32 applications run at near native speed through FX!32 and Win16 applications run automatically through the emulator included in Windows NT. If you would like to know whether any particular software has an Alpha native version, you could get the latest information from the Software Company or check Alpha native application list with more than 2,800 on web site. (www.partner.digital.com/www-catalog/alphapowered/)
Is it possible to upgrade systems by exchanging CPUs?
Alpha motherboards support a range of speeds of a single processor. So if you had a PC 164LX motherboard with 466MHz 21164 CPU, this could be upgraded to a 600MHz CPU by buying the new processor of 21164 family and following the information in the user's guide for setting the CPU frequency. However there are no motherboards that would enable a system designed for a 21164 to be upgraded to a 21264-class processor. These upgrades are typically done at the board level.
Product Guide
 21164 Alpha Microprocessor(KP21164) |
Alpha PC 164LX Motherboard (MB164LX) |
Alpha PC 164UX Motherboard (MB164UX) |
Alpha PC 164BX Motherboard (MB164BX) |
กก
